Have you ever felt that tugging on your heart that there is something missing in your life? I did but I wasn’t sure where to turn to or what was the absolute truth.
Between my loving parents on Sunday mornings, the seminary class in high school, and the culture I grew up with in Salt Lake City, Utah, I learned the teachings of my childhood Mormon/LDS faith. But where my peers bonded over their beliefs, my confusion isolated me. Struggling with ongoing and troublesome theological questions, I first turned to my childhood religion for answers:
Other than the usual “Jaclyn, you just have to have faith,” answer I never found a reasonable response that satisfied my deep yearnings. Unconnected to my peers and brushed off by the leaders of my youth, I ultimately gave up altogether. Then Jesus found His way into my heart and beckoned me to find Him outside the Mormon Faith.
If you or someone you know is wrestling with these same questions, I encourage you to purchase a book or two to giveaway to help encourage them they are not alone and that there is unconditional grace only found in a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
I wrote Unconditional Grace to tell of my journey to truth and help those searching for an authentic and personal relationship with our Lord too.
We all know someone stuck in the repetition of a religion. In Ephesians 2:8-10 we read:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Our religion and our good works do not save us, only our relationship with Jesus Christ can.
God met me where I was. It was not necessary for me to pull myself up to His level, rather he lowered himself to mine, and opened up my heart to His truth. He showed me that His true grace and mercy are open to everyone willing to say His name. His free gift–his death and sacrifice on the cross– meant I was saved. He freed me from my lifetime of loneliness, failure, and disappointment. He met me where I was and quenched the thirst for knowledge.
Now, I want to do that for others. Our pastor in Salt Lake City always said, “I’m just one beggar, telling another beggar, where I found bread.”
This is where I found bread. This book is my journey to Him.
I pray it will help you, or someone you love, find an authentic relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, only found in God’s truth – the Bible.
~ Jaclyn Olsen Arnold